1. Technical Field
The field of art to which this invention pertains may be generally located in the class of devices relating to loose leaf binders. Class 402, entitled Loose Leaf, United States Patent Office classification, appears to be the applicable general area of art to which the subject matter similar to this invention has been classified in the past.
2. Background Information
It is known in the loose leaf binder art to provide loose leaf binder lift locks for releasably securing the hard cover of a loose leaf binder to the rear cover, with the loose leaf pages held in between said covers. Heretofore, a loose leaf binder lift lock has been provided which includes the basic components of an outer tubular body, a retainer cap for securing the body to the cover of a loose leaf binder, a ball carrier with a plurality of balls carried therein, a pull ring stud, a pull ring and a compression return spring. The last mentioned loose leaf binder lift lock components have heretofore been assembled in a condition so that it was not possible to disassemble the inner components of the binder lift lock for repair purposes. A problem solved by the present invention is the elimination of any tooling required to assemble the pull ring to the pull ring stud. Another problem solved by the present invention is the elimination of side travel of the pull ring which creates a condition whereby the pull ring may be inadvertently pulled off of the pull ring stud during use of the loose leaf binder lift lock. The loose leaf binder lift lock of the present invention also eliminates the need for grease to prevent the locking balls in the ball carrier from corroding and sticking. A disadvantage of the prior art loose leaf binder locks is that they are heavy, which results in high shipping costs, and they require an extra retainer component for pre-assembly of the body, ball carrier, spring and balls.